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When consultants don’t do consultancy

This Blog was written by Simon Hodge. Simon Hodge is a consultant on the CDC graduate scheme.

When you start a new job, obviously your first thoughts are going to be of...well...the job. The work is why we joined and why we were hired. What many people don’t realise before they join is the huge number of opportunities that come our way in the CDC that have absolutely nothing to do with the work we do.

Before you join, you won’t notice the optional extras very much – some reference on our CSR web page to Capgemini’s charity work, perhaps, or the odd question at a careers fair. Essentially, it’s not a priority. And then it’s your first day, and at induction you suddenly get told of about a million things (well, perhaps an exaggeration, but not far off) that CDCers have got up to because they joined Capgemini, but which have nothing to do with consultancy.

Over the Spring Bank Holiday, for example, I took part in the BUPA 10k run in London, along with 5 other current or former CDCers. I had never done a race like this before, and loved it so much I’m already looking for my next one to do. We ran in support of one of the charities Capgemini supports, Alzheimer’s Research UK. A team of 6 consultants, and yet not a process map in sight - just weeks of training, fitness tips and (obviously) immensely high quality banter.

Or there was the Myotubular Trust Walk, a 17 mile wander along the Thames that is always a hit with new joiners. It’s a great way of supporting a really important charity and getting to see some fantastic bits of London all at once. Or perhaps the Five Peaks Challenge, climbing the five largest mountains in the British Isles, that some other grads are due to undertake this summer; or dinner in the historic Banqueting House in London, where Charles I was executed at the end of the Civil War.

None of these things have much to do with consultancy, but they have all happened because we are consultants. The CDC provides a great career opportunity, and that is of course the main reason we are here, but it also opens doors to a wealth of other challenges and experiences that help make our time in the CDC about far more than just consultancy.